Over against Rome, the churches of the Reformation indeed have no more powerful weapon than Scripture. It delivers the deadliest of blows to ecclesiastical tradition and hierarchy. The teaching of the perspicuity [clarity] of Scripture is one of the strongest bulwarks of the Reformation. It also most certainly brings with it its own serious perils. Protestantism has been hopelessly divided by it, and individualism has developed at the expense of the people’s sense of community. The freedom to read and examine Scripture has been and is grossly abused by all sorts of groups and schools of thought. On the balance, however, the disadvantages do not outweigh the advantages. For the denial of the clarity of Scripture carries with it the subjection of the layperson to the priest, of a person’s conscience to the church. The freedom of religion and the human conscience, of the church and theology, stands and falls with the perspicuity of Scripture. It alone is able to maintain the freedom of the Christian; it is the origin and guarantee of religious liberty as well as of our political freedom. Even a freedom that cannot be obtained and enjoyed aside from the danger of licentiousness and caprice is still always to be preferred over a tyranny that suppresses liberty. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1, p. 479. Also quoted in K. DeYoung’s Taking God at His Word
Category Archives: Bible
Word is Necessary, Sacraments are Not
Pierre Marcel in his excellent book Infant Baptism, takes several pages to discuss the similarities and differences between the Word and the sacraments. He clearly explains how the Word and the sacraments are the same and how they are different. Here are some good paragraphs explaining the priority of the Word over the sacraments. All italics are Marcel’s.
The Word is indispensable to salvation, but the sacraments are not. The sacraments, in fact, are subordinated to the Word; they are signs of the content of the Word and are joined to it. The Word, therefore, is definitely something apart from the sacraments, but the sacraments apart from the Word are nothing: apart from it they have neither value nor power. The sacraments are nothing less than, but nothing more than, a visible Word. All the benefits of redemption come to us from the Word and only through faith, but there is not a single benefit which can be received through the sacraments alone, apart from the Word and without faith.
It is for this reason that the preaching of the Word should precede the administration of the sacraments in order to teach us and bring to our knowledge the significance of the visible sign. The words which are call “sacramental” are nothing other than a summary preaching of the promise of the Gospel, which ought to be proclaimed by the minister with force and clarity so that believers may be brought to the end for which the sign was prescribed.
The Word is thus indispensable for salvation, whereas the sacraments are not.
Naturally the next question is: If that is the case then why should we administer the sacraments? Do they become unnecessary if they are not absolutely necessary to our salvation? I will post Marcel’s answer to that question tomorrow.
Love & Obedience in John’s Writings
The relationship between love and obedience has a checkered history in the life of God’s people. On one side are those curmudgeons who furrow their brow and yell “Obedience.” On the other side are those soft men who whimper, “All we need is love.” In between are most Christians who spend their days bouncing between love and obedience. They ask questions like, am I really loving God? Am I obeying enough? Am I being a legalist? In this post I want to show how John weaves together love and obedience. This post will not answer all questions, but I hope it will clarify the relationship between love and obedience. At the end I will draw some conclusions from these texts.
This post is focused on passages in John’s gospel and his three letters where he uses the word “command/commandments,” which is ἐντολή in the Greek.
We begin with the obedience of our Lord. Jesus obeyed the commands of the Father because he loved the Father. In John 10:17-18 Jesus says that he lays down his life according to the Father’s command (charge in the ESV). Because he lays down his life the Father loves him. In John 12:44-50 Jesus says he speaks whatever the Father commands him to speak. He also says that the Father’s command is “everlasting life.” Finally in John 15:10, Jesus says that he has kept the commandments of the Father and therefore he abides in the Father’s love. Continue reading
Psalm 119-Longing for that Marvelous Word
My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. (Psalm 119:20)
I got engaged in college. For Christmas break my wife-to-be went to her home in Oregon and I went to my home in Mississippi. Our wedding was scheduled for March. I planned on going out to Oregon closer to wedding. One day in late December my father approached me and said something like this, “Son you are useless here. Why don’t you drive out to Oregon and spend the months leading up to the wedding near your bride to be.” That was wise counsel. My body was in Mississippi, but my heart and mind were in Oregon. At different times in life we all long for things. Often the deepest longing comes when we meet the person we are going to marry. I longed to be with Julie. There are other longings, such as a desire for particular job, a deep desire for rest and peace, or even a longing for wealth. But for the psalmist there is something else he longs for. There is something else that fills his vision; God’s Word.
In Psalm 119:20 the writer expresses a longing for God’s Word. The ESV translates it as “consumed,” the NKJV translates it as “breaks.” The word means to be crushed by something. What is the psalmist crushed by? A longing for God’s Word. The psalmist has a deep desire to see the judgments of God come forth. There is no moderation here. This is not a mild desire to occasionally read the Word. It is a desire that consumes all other desires. The psalmist hungers and thirsts for the Scriptures.
But why? Why are the Scriptures what he pursues? In them he finds God. In them he finds salvation. In them he finds answers to the most important of questions. In them a thirsty man finds water. In them a hungry man finds bread. In them the sinner finds forgiveness. In them he finds the path to holiness. In them he finds Christ. Anything of consequence is found in the Word of God. The better question is why anyone would not be consumed with longing for the Word of God?
For the psalmist this is not a passing concern for God’s judgments. His longing for God’s Word is not like the dew which is here at 9 and gone by 10. He longs for God’s judgments “at all times.” We all hunger for God’s Word at certain times in our lives. If we are sick or lose our job or there are difficulties in our marriage or with our children we might long for God’s Word. If we have a secret sin that has been discovered we might run to God’s Word. That is good and we should let circumstances drive us back to God’s Word. But that is not our goal. Our goal is a constant hunger for the living bread of God’s Word. Our aim should be a life of persevering faith that is characterized by a love for God’s Word. Admittedly we all grow slack in this area at times. Our love for the Word God goes up and down. Yet we must strive to be a people who break with longing for God’s Word at all times.
What are some practical ways to learn to long for God’s Word?
- Ask the Lord to give you a hunger for His Word. A good way to do this is pray through a section of Psalm 119 each day. Why would the Lord not answer this prayer?
- Listen carefully to the preaching of God’s Word. Often pastors will open up the Word for us in ways we cannot ourselves.
- Hang around people who love God’s Word, read it regularly, and are showing signs of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is infectious.
- Read God’s Word. There are many ways to do this. Some read through the Bible in a year. I have done that. Currently I am reading a couple of Psalms, one Proverb and a portion of an OT book and NT book each day. But I read the same book all month. This month I have read through Micah 3 times and will probably get one more reading in before I am done. The NT book is II Corinthians. I have read that twice. Vary up your Bible reading, especially if it gets stale.
- Persevere in faith as you read and hear God’s Word. In this life, there will always be times where we are dull to God’s Word, where we don’t want to read it, or hear it preached. We must believe that even in those times the Spirit is working through the Word. Even if it is hard, we must keep ourselves planted in the Word. In the long run, the Lord will reward this often with a renewed joy for Scripture.
I want to end with Westminster Larger Catechism Question 155:
Q 155: How is the word made effectual to salvation?
A 155: The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace, and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
Why would those of us who have been saved by God’s grace, love Jesus, and want to be conformed to His image not long for more of this marvelous book?
Second Helvetic Confession: On the Scriptures
I have been reading the Second Helvetic Confession. What is that you ask? Here is a little background. Here is the document itself, which is longer than either the Westminster Confession or the Belgic Confession. While I don’t agree with all of it, such as its “ever virgin” phrase or its excessive pessimistic view of the church in history, overall it is rich and is worth consulting. Here is the first section of the confession on the Scriptures. I have put in a bold a few phrases I enjoyed.
CANONICAL SCRIPTURE. We believe and confess the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. For God himself spoke to the fathers, prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures.
And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has the most complete exposition of all that pertains to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God; and in this respect it is expressly commanded by God that nothing be either added to or taken from the same.
SCRIPTURE TEACHES FULLY ALL GODLINESS. We judge, therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be derived true wisdom and godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as also instruction in all duties of piety; and, to be short, the confirmation of doctrines, and the rejection of all errors, moreover, all exhortations according to that word of the apostle, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,” etc. (II Timothy 3:16-17). Again, “I am writing these instructions to you,” says the apostle to Timothy, “So that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God,” etc. (I Timothy 3:14-15). SCRIPTURE IS THE WORD OF GOD. Again, the selfsame apostle to the Thessalonians: “When,” says he, “You received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God,” etc. (I Thess. 2:13) For the Lord himself has said in the gospel, “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking through you”; therefore “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Matt. 10:20; Luke 10:16; John 13:20).
The sufficiency, authority, and clarity of Scripture are key battlegrounds in the church today and will be in the coming years. Those of us in the reformed world would be wise to read not just the key works on Scripture (Warfield, Whitaker, and systematics), but also to mine the depths of the confessions and catechisms.
Singing & Slaying 